Beyond Career Opportunities: The Role of Social Influences in Shaping Healthcare Professionals’ Migration Intentions

Abstract

The migration of health workers is a global problem, especially in developing countries that experience workforce shortages. Understanding the factors that influence healthcare workers’ intention to migrate is important in order to develop effective retention strategies. The aim of this study is to identify factors that affect migration intention among healthcare workers such as doctors, nurses, paramedics and hospital administrators. A quantitative cross-sectional survey was conducted to explore the influence of career specialization, peer influence, family influence and perceived quality of life on migration intention. The results demonstrated that peer influence and family influence were the most important predictors of migration intention. In contrast, career specialization and perceived quality of life did not have a statistically significant impact on migration intention.In addition, profession did not significantly moderate the relationship between career specialization and Migration intention. These findings suggest that social influences play a more prominent role than professional or lifestyle-related factors in shaping healthcare workers’ migration intentions.The study underscores the importance of professional and social factors in shaping migration intention. The findings may help health care organizations and policymakers to develop strategies to improve health care workforce retention and reduce health care worker migration.